


The Rise of Solo

by idrilhadhafang



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, M/M, Post-Canon Fix-It, Redeemed Ben Solo, Resurrection, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Fix-It
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:27:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28290159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idrilhadhafang/pseuds/idrilhadhafang
Summary: After Poe is reunited with a resurrected Ben, there’s much to heal and resolve — including Snoke returning.
Relationships: Poe Dameron/Ben Solo, Poe Dameron/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Kudos: 3
Collections: Bad Day Collection





	The Rise of Solo

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing.

They were only going back to Exegol to retrieve Ben’s shirt. Rey had recommended that. Having something of Ben’s giving Poe closure...or something. 

Exegol. There was something about stepping on the cold ebony stone that was enough to make Poe feel like he had stepped into hell. Maybe, in a way, he had. This was the Sith version of hell, in ruins after the energy burst that had taken Rey’s life. Temporarily. 

“Are you angry with me?” Rey said. Her voice sounded so soft in the emptiness of the Exegol sanctuary. 

“No. It would be stupid to,” Poe said. It wasn’t like it was Rey’s fault the Force had randomly decided to change rules. Nothing about it made sense — why Leia had given out just reaching out to Ben. Why just deflecting all that Lightning had killed Rey, temporarily. 

Nothing about this made sense. But it wasn’t Rey’s fault. Not really. 

The only thing that was left of Ben Solo was his shirt. Even as Poe knelt beside it, he could feel the abrasions in the fabric, the cuts. And maybe it was just Exegol getting to him, but he had a feeling that someone else was there with the five of them. 

Someone else...

 _It’s just your mind playing tricks on you, Dameron_. But someone was there, Poe just knew it —

“He’s here,” Rey said. She sounded confused, almost like this was as much a mystery to her as anything. 

Poe looked where Rey was looking, to see a familiar face dressed awkwardly in Sith cultist robes. He looked, Poe thought, like he’d taken them off a corpse. Maybe he had. 

Poe stepped forward, cautiously. Maybe this was a trick of Exegol. Maybe this Ben would sooner stab them than come back with them. Except he didn’t have a lightsaber. 

...maybe he’d find other ways. 

***

”Are you real?” Poe said, softly. 

“Real as can be,” Ben said. “And...I think I’d like my shirt back, for what it’s worth.”

Poe tossed it to him. Ben wasn’t shimmering blue, he would say that. He was real. Possibly.

”I thought you’d died,” Poe said, trying his best to keep the anger from boiling up. 

“I did.” Ben was quiet for a while. “Rey, technically my cousin thanks to Palpatine’s machinations — ”

Rey’s intake of breath was sharp. Too sharp. 

“ — was dead,” Ben said. “I have done too many terrible things. Too many. I thought I would give back to the galaxy, if I thought those moments would be my last.”

Poe could sense Rey shifting uncomfortably. 

“It’s not your fault,” Ben said. “You were strong, Rey. Fantastic."

"I didn’t want another one of my family to die for me...” Rey said softly. 

"I came back.”

”You did,” Rey said. “I can feel it.”

***

Poe couldn’t help but notice how guilty Ben just looked as he brushed past him. At least the brief brushing of warmth against warmth confirmed that Ben was real. Solid. What was wrong with him, Poe thought. He seemed to care more about Rey than —

Rey was family, yes. But Poe...well, Poe loved him. Had Ben forgotten that? 

Did Ben think that Poe now meant nothing to him?

Poe headed towards the cockpit with Ben. Ben, looking around the Falcon in awe.

”I know this place,” he said. “These walls, this cockpit...”

”Yeah.”

Ben turned to Poe. “It’s just a shock,” he said. “Seeing you again. I mean...after what I did to you...” A brief, pained look. “How do you not hate me?”

”I just don’t,” Poe said. “I can’t."

”I could count the amount of people you hate on one hand,” Ben said, smiling faintly. Force, Poe thought, he had missed Ben’s genuine smile. 

"Yeah.” Poe smiled himself, if faintly. "Let’s go home.”

They lifted up into the sky, away from Exegol, and for the first time in a while, Poe swore things were going right. 


End file.
